The Unwanted
Gertjan Verbeek: colleague, un-colleague. The Dutchman, who ...
Gertjan Verbeek: colleague, un-colleague.
Gertjan Verbeek: colleague, un-colleague. The Dutchman, who would have a real chance in any Catweazle look-alike contest, clashed badly with Christian Streich in 2013/14 while in charge of Nuremberg. After a 3–2 defeat in Freiburg he refused to attend the press conference and said Streich was no colleague of his, accusing him of behaving like a madman on the touchline.
Streich reacted with a mixture of disbelief and hurt, insisting he had been emotional but never against Verbeek personally.
Wladimir But fled from the shoulder-patters. The technically
Wladimir But fled from the shoulder-patters.
gifted Russian midfielder, a Champions League winner with Dortmund in 1997, was sent to Freiburg in 2000. Volker Finke initially got him back on track and he produced his best Bundesliga season in 2000/01, with 12 goal involvements in 24 matches. But he eventually lost his way in Freiburg too, and his contract was not extended in 2003. He drifted into unemployment, failed in a comeback attempt at Hannover, and eventually ended up on Crete.
Finke later said it is never good for personal development to be uprooted so young and then constantly told how wonderful you are.
SCF vs. league average
Dark Chapters
Jens Lehmann delivered a nasty kick. During Dortmund’s
Jens Lehmann delivered a nasty kick.
title-winning 2001/02 season he lashed out horribly at Freiburg’s Soumaila Coulibaly when the Malian was on the ground. Freiburg’s fans sent him to the dressing room at half-time with chants of “Lehmann, du Arschloch.” He was not even booked during the game, though the DFB later banned him for four matches.
That he returned to Freiburg later on with arch-rivals Stuttgart did not help matters.
The golf-ball thrower: Freiburg’s crowd enjoyed a fine
The golf-ball thrower: Freiburg’s crowd enjoyed a fine reputation until April 12, 2000.
reputation until April 12, 2000. Then a 16-year-old schoolboy from the Elz Valley threw a golf ball at Oliver Kahn’s temple, leaving the Bayern keeper bloodied and collapsing. The game was stopped for three minutes and the club fined 65,000 marks. Freiburg even spent 1,000 marks on identifying the culprit and he was caught two days later, confessed, and received a youth sentence.
SCF — Financial Stability Score
Freiburg ist das Anti-BVB: Kein Glamour, keine Mega-Transfers, kein CL-Anspruch — dafür die stabilste Bilanz der gesamten Liga. EK-Quote 80,3%, PK-Quote 38,8%, praktisch schuldenfrei. Das Streich/Schuster-Modell beweist: Man kann im Profifußball finanziell gesund wirtschaften. Die Kehrseite: Die sportliche Decke ist strukturell begrenzt. Freiburg wird nie Meister — aber auch nie in finanzielle Not geraten.